Walid Al Nofal

2 months ago | syriadirect.org | Walid Al Nofal |Mateo Nelson

Syrian security forces arrested Brigadier General Atef Najib in Latakia on Friday. Najib, Bashar al-Assad’s cousin, was involved in the March 2011 torture of children by the Political Security Branch in Daraa, the incident that sparked the revolution. PARIS — Syrian security forces arrested Brigadier General Atef Najib, a cousin of ousted president Bashar al-Assad and former head of the Political Security Branch in Daraa province, in Latakia on Friday.

2 months ago | syriadirect.org | Walid Al Nofal |Mateo Nelson

Since the Assad regime fell, repeated local and international calls for the new government in Damascus to provide guarantees for Syria’s ethnic and religious minorities have sparked controversy and fueled hate speech. PARIS — Calls for Syria’s new authorities to guarantee equality and safety for Syria’s ethnic and religious minorities have been loud, locally and internationally, since the start of Operation Deterring Aggression last November and the fall of the Assad regime 11 days later.

Jan 14, 2025 | syriadirect.org | Walid Al Nofal |Mateo Nelson

The Syrian Civil Defense, once only able to operate in opposition-held territory, deployed its 3,300 volunteers across most of the country as the Assad regime fell. What comes next for the rescue organization? With the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, the Syrian Civil Defense deployed to cities where the rescue organization had never operated since its establishment in October 2014: Tartous, Latakia, western Aleppo neighborhoods and beyond.

Jan 10, 2025 | syriadirect.org | Walid Al Nofal |Mateo Nelson

Communities in Daraa have taken care of themselves for years, fundraising to provide services and even paying teacher salaries to compensate for an absent state. With new authorities in Damascus, local initiatives arise to monitor local governance and root out corruption. PARIS — Notables and military commanders from the Yarmouk Basin, an area in the southwestern corner of Syria’s southern Daraa province, met on Tuesday in the town of al-Shajara to form a service management council.

Jan 7, 2025 | syriadirect.org | Walid Al Nofal |Mateo Nelson

AMMAN — Hundreds of shops line a five-kilometer stretch of the main thoroughfare in Zaatari, Jordan’s largest Syrian refugee camp. Each once held significant financial value in the local economy, but today “they are scrap, worth only the value of the iron they are made of,” Abu Amer, who owns four shops there, told Syria Direct. Zaatari’s economy has been contracting since the day former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fell on December 8, 2024.